On an internal halyard flagpole, the halyard travels from the winch assembly located inside the flagpole through a pulley assembly and exits the top of the flagpole and ends in an arrangement connected to the displayed flag. Since the end of the flag arrangement does not attach to a cleat assembly, the end of the halyard engages a retainer ring connected to the flagpole shaft that holds the flag in position, and a weight is typically attached to the retainer ring to provide adequate tension on the cable to prevent it from jumping the pulley assembly and becoming tangled. Conventional counterweights are compact, dense and rigid, and pose disadvantages associated with these features including being unsightly, potentially dangerous, and inadequate in exerting sufficient tension on the halyard thereby leading to dislodgement and tangling. Moreover, conventional counterweights are attached at the bottom of a flag arrangement and extend to a ring assembly. As the bottom of the flag tends to rise under windy conditions, the conventional counterweight places stress on the flag and particularly the flag hem parallel and adjacent to the flagpole, thereby increasing the tendency of the flag to fray or tear.